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CHRISTIE ROAD SHOW: Gov. Christie is plunging ahead with plans to travel the country over the next month, attempting to project a business-as-usual air, and showing he’s still in demand with conservative audiences. His next swing is Thursday: Christie, installed in November as chairman of the Republican Governors Association, will be in Dallas and Fort Worth for RGA fundraisers. A week from today, he’ll speak to the Economic Club of Chicago, then will headline an afternoon RGA fundraiser and RGA fundraising dinner in Chicago.

On Feb. 18, he’ll speak to an NRSC winter retreat in New York City. From Feb. 21-24, he’ll be in D.C. for the National Governors Association’s winter meeting, with RGA events on the side. Here’s the most interesting one: In early March, he’ll speak to the Conversation Political Action Conference (CPAC), which pointedly did not invite him last year. On March 8, he’ll speak to the American Enterprise Institute’s annual World Forum in Sea Island, Ga.

--SPOTTED, entering Gov. Christie’s MetLife box during the Super Bowl: GOP mega-donors Harlan Crow, Paul Singer and Josh Harris. Plus Rudy and Judith Giuliani, Governor Cuomo and Sandra Lee, Dan Senor, Bill Pallatucci and various Christie relatives. The Giulianis were the first to arrive (even before the Governor); Cuomo dropped in for about 20 minutes. The gov’s guests dined on hot dogs, salad, sausages, nachos and beer. Christie was ebullient, talking football the whole time and barking out progress reports as he got updates to his iPhone about operational details, including the number of fan processed through the mags.

SCOOP -- “Gay-marriage backers launch campaign,” by Maggie Haberman: “Gay marriage advocates are launching a coordinated ‘war room’ effort to help disseminate information about the efforts in dozens of states to legalize same-sex nuptials … The Human Rights Campaign is setting up the effort to support Americans for Marriage Equality … [T]he war room will be led by SKDKnickerbocker’s Olivia Alair on the Democratic-leaning side, and Brian Jones, the former RNC official and Mitt Romney adviser, of Black Rock Group. Senior advisers to the project will be Hilary Rosen and Anita Dunn of SKDKnickerbocker.”

DEBUT: “WHAT WORKS,” a year-long reported series from Politico Magazine, featuring innovative ideas -- and how they spread -- from cities across the United States at a time of unprecedented urban reinvention – Opening installment, “The Robots That Saved Pittsburgh: How the Steel City avoided Detroit’s fate,” by Glenn Thrush: “Pittsburgh, after decades of trying to remake itself, today really does have a new economy, rooted in the city’s rapidly growing robotic, artificial intelligence, health technology, advanced manufacturing and software industries. It’s growing in population for the first time since the 1950s.”

--POLITICO Magazine Editor Susan Glasser: “There's an incredible wave of urban revival happening in America, with major cities now growing faster than suburbs for the first time since the 1920s . Our goal with this series is to understand how innovation spreads, to kick the tires on what works - and what doesn't - at a time of massive reinvention.” www.politico.com/magazine/what-works

OBAMA ALUMNI -- Robert Gibbs and Ben LaBolt, founding partners of The Incite Agency, will announce today: “Jon Jones is joining Incite as our Chief Digital Officer. We … met Jon in 2007, when he was the first strategist hired to help then-Senator Obama navigate the digital landscape. Back then, we called it ‘new media,’ because we weren’t yet sure how to integrate it with our broader communications efforts. Jon played a critical role in showing just how powerful leveraging social media on behalf of a candidate can be. … For the past 5 years at the digital advertising agency R/GA, Jon has served as the go-to digital strategist for some of the biggest … brands … [H]will now lead Incite’s digital services from our new office in New York City.”

ANDREW ROSS SORKIN launches #ApologyWatch: “It seems that just about every day a chief executive, politician or other prominent figure is apologizing for something. … If you’re questioning the sincerity of this apology movement, there’s good reason. Dov Seidman, a careful observer of societal trends and the founder of LRN, a firm that advises companies on their cultures and how they can translate them into better performance, has been tracking the apology trend for many years. … Seidman and I are starting ‘Apology Watch’ on the DealBook website and on Twitter using the hashtag #ApologyWatch. We hope readers will participate by helping us track new apologies and, more important, follow up on what companies, institutions and individuals have done post-apology.” www.nytimes.com/dealbook

SEN. TED CRUZ DEVELOPS AN INSIDE GAME -- Manu Raju: “In an olive branch to his colleagues, Cruz privately assured them he wouldn’t raise money for a conservative group attacking GOP senators. … While the 43-year-old Cruz is unapologetic about his role in the shutdown, a number of senators … believe he was humbled by the backlash over his strategy … ‘[H]e’s working hard to do what most of us do, which is to recognize that we’re in a body that’s based heavily upon relationships, and you get more done when you have good relationships,’ said Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.). ‘[H]e’s good-humored, and … a pleasure to have in the caucus.’ … In a sign of how his celebrity status among the conservative base grew after the shutdown, Cruz’s campaign committee raised $1.3 million from October through the end of last year, an uptick from the $708,000 he raised the previous quarter.” http://goo.gl/8Vekrk

** A message from USA Network’s Characters Unite: What do Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, WWE’s Big Show, Grammy-winning artists Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Baltimore Ravens’ Ray Rice have in common? They all have joined USA Network’s Characters Unite public service campaign to combat hate and discrimination. Get involved at charactersunite.com #IWontStandFor **

PEN-AND-PHONE ALERT: In Adelphia, Md. (Prince George’s County) this a.m., per a White House official, “President Obama will announce over $750 million in new private sector commitments from leading tech and telecom companies like Apple, Sprint, ATT, Verizon and Microsoft that will equip millions of students with the digital learning tools they need to compete. These new announcements come on the heels of a … $2 billion FCC commitment to serve as a down-payment toward realizing the President's ConnectED goal of connecting 99 percent of students to high-speed wireless and digital learning over the next five years.”

INSIDE THE WEST WING – N.Y. Times A1, “Trade Issue Goes Untouched as Obama and Reid Meet,” by Peter Baker and Ashley Parker: “Obama met with Senator Harry Reid … at the White House on Monday but made no effort to change Mr. Reid’s mind on the trade initiative that has divided them, according to Democrats briefed on the session. … [T]rade did not come up, according to the Democrats. Instead, the discussion focused on the coming midterm elections … Obama’s aides said he would continue to seek the [trade] authority. … But Mr. Obama did not make that case to Mr. Reid when he had the chance. White House officials are trying to avoid a public fight that they see as self-destructive.” http://goo.gl/JldLMY

--WSJ A1 above fold, “Obama, Party See Fractures Emerge,” by Janet Hook and Peter Nicholas: “Democrats in Congress are parting ways with … Obama on issues including trade, energy and health care as the gap widens between the political demands of keeping control of the Senate and advancing parts of the White House agenda.” http://goo.gl/s6tcem

--WashPost 1-col. lead, “Obama is squeezed in border debate: ALLIES DEMAND A HALT TO DEPORTATIONS – Stance complicates push for deal with House Republicans,” by David Nakamura: “The advocates, including the AFL-CIO and pro-immigration groups, argue that Obama should use his executive authority to expand a 2012 decision that halted deportations of young people brought to the United States illegally by their parents.” http://goo.gl/0MbBer

FIRST LOOK – More heat coming for State over Keystone report -- “Statement from NextGen Climate Action Keystone Campaign Manager Mike Casey On the Need for Senate Investigative Hearings”: “The foremost concern is the omission of … statements by tar sand executives … that the pipeline is essential to their ability to drive the extraction of tar sands oil.”

BREAKING – “TechNet Names … Linda Moore, as President and CEO” – Release: “TechNet, the CEO network that promotes the growth of the innovation economy, today announced the appointment of Linda Moore as president and CEO. … ‘Linda's significant experience in the White House and on Capitol Hill helps strengthen the voice of the innovation economy in Washington,’ said John Chambers, Chairman and CEO of Cisco. … ‘TechNet is at its best when it puts its political weight behind solving America's challenges, whether upgrading our education system or making America more competitive,’ said John Doerr, Partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. … She spent eight years in the Clinton White House, serving in the second term as Deputy Political Director.”

SOCIAL MEDIA AND THE SUPER BOWL -- “Ratings: another record for Super Bowl,” by AP Television Writer David Bauder: “For the fourth time in five years, the Super Bowl has set a record for the most-watched television event in U.S. history, drawing 111.5 million viewers … The game also set standards for the most-streamed sports event online and, with 24.9 million tweets, the biggest U.S. live TV event on Twitter. … The number of Super Bowl-related tweets was up from 24.1 million last year. The moment of peak activity on Twitter came after [Percy]Harvin [ran the opening kickoff of the second half back for a touchdown to give the Seahawks a 29-0 lead]. Harvin's run produced a 381,605 tweet per minute average, the company said. The next biggest peaks of activity came when Jermaine Kearse caught a touchdown pass and Malcolm Smith returned an interception for a touchdown. …

“Nielsen said an estimated 115.3 million people watched [Bruno] Mars and his guests, the Red Hot Chili Peppers. That makes it the most-watched Super Bowl halftime show ever, eclipsing Madonna's performance two years ago. Mars' album, ‘Unorthodox Jukebox,’ moved into No. 1 on the iTunes album chart on Monday, while his debut ‘Doo-Wops & Hooligans’ is at No. 3. Mars has 11 songs in the top 100 of the iTunes singles chart. The three biggest moments on Twitter were also the three most talked-about events on Facebook.” http://goo.gl/vPC3gB

SPORTS BLINK --“Super Bowl fans bet record $119M at Nevada casinos,” by AP’s Hannah Dreier in Vegas: “Oddsmakers released numbers for next year's Super Bowl … The Seahawks, Broncos and 49ers are the favored teams.” http://goo.gl/4waqOU

REMEMBERING JOAN MONDALE – (Minneapolis) Star Tribune’s Kevin Duchschere: “She played many roles in her lifetime: wife, mother, the nation’s second lady and Walter Mondale’s inseparable partner on the national and international stages … But Joan Adams Mondale’s favorite title through the years … was Joan of Art. The former museum guide became an accomplished potter in her own right, leveraging her position as wife of an important leader to promote the arts locally and worldwide. … Joan Mondale, 83, died Monday surrounded by her husband, sons and family members at Mount Olivet Careview Home in Minneapolis, where she had been receiving hospice care since moving there Friday … In 2010, she resigned her last official position — choosing subjects for stamps as a member of the Postmaster General’s Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee.” http://goo.gl/DGgjOR

--“Bronco bashes fizzle,” by Ian Mohr: “[A] Broncos bash was organized at Midtown’s Tokya, where a case of specially ordered Ace of Spades Champagne remained uncorked. A dinner at the Mulberry Project and late-night party at dance palace Pacha were also planned. … [A]n insider said, ‘The players stayed in their hotel ordering Jack Daniels.” www.pagesix.com

** A message from USA Network’s Characters Unite: Characters Unite, USA Network's award-winning public service program, was created to address the social injustices and cultural divides still prevalent in our society. Inspired by USA Network's iconic "Characters Welcome" brand and with the support of leading national nonprofit organizations, the ongoing campaign is dedicated to supporting activities and messaging that combat hate and discrimination while promoting tolerance and acceptance -- on-air, online, and in communities around the country.

Throughout February, Characters Unite Month, USA is showcasing special programming including the 3rd annual “NFL Characters Unite” documentary, the Oscar-winning Best Picture “In the Heat of the Night” and a new PSA campaign featuring Grammy-winners Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, as well as other notable actors, athletes, musicians and political leaders. In addition, USA is launching a college bus tour across the country and a nationwide search for the 2014 Characters Unite Awards winners.